The shipping industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Almost every country in the world exports and imports goods to other countries. Additionally, within each country goods are shipped from one part of a country to another. In many cases, goods are shipped in shipping containers that are standardized in size. Containerization for transport has spurred the use of pallets.
A pallet, sometimes called a skid, is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, front loader, jack, or other jacking or lifting device. Many pallets are wooden, however, pallets may also be made from plastic, metal, paper and recycled papers. Pallets are used to load goods in shipping containers because the shipping containers have the smooth, level surfaces needed for easy pallet movement. Most pallets can easily carry a load of 1,000 kg (2,205 lb). Today, over half a billion pallets are made each year and about two billion pallets are in use across the United States alone. Businesses using standard pallets for loading and unloading can have much lower costs for handling and storage, with faster material movement than businesses that do not.
In operation, goods, freight or other smaller containers are often placed on a pallet then secured with strapping, stretch wrap or shrink wrap. After securing the freight or goods to the pallet, a loading device, such as a jack or front loader, loads or moves the loaded pallet into a shipping container for shipping.
However, the use of existing pallets has its limitations. One of the biggest limitations is that it is the use of existing pallets creates a large amount of under or unutilized space within a shipping or movable container. Typically, the inside of a shipping container has a height that is much higher than a height of goods stacked and secured on a pallet. As a result, when a pallet is loaded, by using a forklift, jack etc., into a shipping container, the space between the top of the inside of the shipping container and the top of the freight loaded on the pallets is empty and not used. As a result, when using existing pallets movable containers or shipping containers are transported with a significant amount of the upper portion of the container underutilized or not filled with goods. Due to such inefficiencies, transportation and fuel costs are increased.
As a result, there exists a need for improvements over the prior art and more particularly for a more efficient way storing goods in movable containers to better utilize the space of such shipping or movable containers.